Learning to Deal
by VampireQueen21
Summary: One week has passed since ‘Departure’. The Roswell aliens have left, the New York Pod Squad come to Roswell to start fresh. Jumper, MariaZan slight AlexLonnie, AvaKyle
1. Chapter 1 of 5

Learning to Deal

Author: Dezi/Jezebel Jinx/VampireQueen21

Couples: Rath/Liz, Maria/Zan, some Alex/Lonnie and some Kyle/Ava

Rating: PG-13-R (language, slight sexual content)

Summary: One week has passed since 'Departure'.

Spoilers: Alex is still alive, and so is Zan. Everything about how they are still alive will be explained.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A.N. I started writing the sequel before I started writing this story. And I wanted to write what happened after the aliens left, so this fic came to mind.

A.N. 2: Also before you start worrying if this will become another one of my WIP's or MIA's have no fear, it's already done. And I'm working on part 3 of the sequel, which is set 20 years after this fic. Enjoy.

**Part 1**

_May 22, 2001_

_Journal Entry #86_

_It's been a week since Tess Harding, Michael Guerin, and Max and Isabel Evans took off back to their home planet. Up into the bright blue sky with the smoke trailing behind the ship. With Maria and I looking on and being unable to do anything to stop it._

_Maria and I had driven up to the mountain to stop the aliens from leaving. We had to tell them that Tess would turn them in to Kivar and his army the minute they landed to have them killed. _

_Earlier, when Maria had gotten home Alex was waiting in her room, looking jumpy and sweat was just dripping down his face like a river. Alex told her Tess had been mind warping him since the previous summer. She wanted him to decode the Destiny book, when he did she continued to mind warp him so he wouldn't tell anybody what she was doing to him._

_That's when I walked into the room listening to him explaining what she did and I wanted to kill her. I've never wanted to kill anyone before, but standing there hearing Alex explain what he went through because of Tess just brought all this anger flooding up. I wanted to get it out—by bashing in Tess's elf like face. _

_After making my presence known I went to Alex and hugged him close telling him that Maria and I would be there for him so we could help him through this. I never wanted to let Alex go someone that he was beginning to trust, who most of the group was also beginning to trust, had violated him. _

_The only two who never trusted her were Maria and myself. Now that I think about it—I suppose Michael never fully trusted her either but it seemed that he was at least hoping too. There were so few people that Michael trusted…'_

Liz glances up from her journal and takes a moment to gaze at the stars. She wonders if their happy and most importantly if they're safe. Did Tess actually follow Nasedo's plan/deal to turn in three of the Royal Four. She hoped that Tess did at least one good thing with her miserable existence and not turn the others over to Kivar.

Moving her gaze from the star covered night she takes a peak inside her window, Maria is lying on her bed sprawled out like she owns the thing. Liz smiles shaking her head knowing that it's going to take an act of God to get Maria to scoot back over to one side of the bed.

Ever since Alex had broken out of the mind warp he's stayed either at my house or at Maria's. Getting our parents to agree with that arrangement was to say the least—difficult.

The Parker's didn't want any boy sleeping with their daughter in same room, even if it was Alex. Liz didn't know what else to do, so she did what she had wanted to do ever since she got shot, she told her parents everything.

Surprisingly to her, her mother and father took the news rather well. Not to say that they weren't shocked, they were. It took them a while to start talking again, but they dealt with it a million times better than would have ever thought.

After telling her parents the latest news, with Alex being mind warped, the aliens leaving back to their home planet, and Nasedo's plan/deal he made with Kivar, the Parker's understood why the three of them wanted to stick together for awhile.

She would have asked if Kyle could stay with them as well—if he had been talking to them. It's not that he's not talking to us because he's avoiding us, he just wants to spend some time with his dad. Kyle had come to think of Tess as a sister and now he felt the need to reconnect with his father, so they can find a way to move on from this betrayal.

The day after she had told her parents the truth about everything, her father had taken Alex to the doctor to check his brain out. Doctor Stone had told Jeff that Alex's brain was close to mush and he had absolutely no clue how it became that way. Whatever it was that happened to him, in a few more day he would have been dead.

Liz comes out of her daze of what transpired over the last few days and begins to write in her journal again…

_While I was holding Alex's trembling body to mine Maria was pacing back and forth getting more agitated as the seconds ticked by. Maria not being able to keep quiet anymore stated what I had been thinking about as well. They needed to get to Max, Michael, and Isabel to stop them from blasting off into space with 'Tess the Mind Rapist'._

_Maria placed a call to Kyle telling him to get to Maria's house pronto. Kyle was there within five minutes. I quickly filled him in on what was going on and that we would explain more later but we had to go get the others and if he could please stay with Alex. _

_Kyle didn't even hesitate to stay with him. Maria and I drove to the desert where we had a good idea of where the chamber was. We heard a rumbling sound and saw metallic colored ooze coming out of the top of the chamber. _

_I knew then we were too late, and they were leaving and there was nothing that Maria or I could do about it. We had turned when the chamber top exploded releasing the ship, we managed to turn around again in time to see the ship going up into the sky and back to it's home planet. _

_At that moment Maria broke down and cried, moaning and crying out to Michael. I had bent down and held her in my arms, whispering to her trying to calm her down but to no avail, so I gave up trying to calm her down and I cried right along side her. _

Liz hears a soft bang, lifting her head she sees Maria climbing out of Liz's room and onto the balcony. Maria's p.j.'s are wrinkled from her tossing and turning.

"I'm sorry did I knock you out of the bed again?" Maria yawns and sits down at the end of Liz's patio chair.

"No, you did kick me a couple of times, but nothing that a relaxing night under the stars won't cure. Why'd you get up?" Liz closes and places her journal down on the table next to her.

"I had another dream about Michael. I miss him so much Liz." Maria whimpers softly and tears begin to roll down her cheeks.

Liz scoots closer to her and wraps a comforting arm around her. She wants so bad to take Maria's pain away, she hates seeing her friends hurting so much and a tiny tear escapes down her cheek as well. Resting the side of her head next to Maria's she holds her until Maria's cries subside.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2 of 5

A.N. I'm also changing a little bit of the Meet the Dupes episode. I'm saying that Rath came to Roswell later (about a month later) to check what the shapeshifters did and that's when he kissed Liz. This author's note should make more sense once you read the part.

**Part 2**

_The Next Morning_

This morning Maria has the day off, while Liz is working, luckily for Liz her shift is almost done. Liz rolls her neck side to side getting some of the kinks out when she hears Maria gasp and the clatter of empty glasses falling to the floor.

Turning Liz finds the object of Maria's gasp and clatter. Rath, Lonnie, Ava, and Zan we're standing there looking defeated almost. She shakes her head and thinks that she had to have imagined that look of defeat, but if she wasn't imagining it, what caused that look?

Liz walks up to the table her friends are sitting in and stares at the four newcomers. Maria, Alex, Kyle, and her wait for the dupes to walk up to them. From what she remembered about what Max had told her was that Rath and Lonnie had tried to kill him, and Ava had told me that Rath and Lonnie had killed Zan.

Zan walks up to the group first. "Hey, I'm Zan. We needs ta talk to yous."

Liz takes a breath and looks toward the others only to find that they are looking at her for what to do. "Why?"

"It's important. Why I'm alive—and other-worldly things." Zan explains.

Going against all her better judgement Liz nods. "The back room." Liz waits for them to move but they don't, like their waiting for the humans to go first.

"Aliens firsts." Liz whispers.

Rath smirks and follows Zan, as he passes Liz he gives her a long look up and down. He nods and goes into the back room.

Liz, Maria, Alex, and Kyle follow the dupe aliens, for the first time since her parents had told her that they were still going to the restaurant convention she was happy about it. Yes, her parents knew about what happened but she didn't think they were ready to actually come face to face with aliens while they knew they were aliens.

Zan, Rath, Ava, and Lonnie take a seat on the huge couch in the break room. "Make yourself at home." Maria sarcastically says to the dupes.

"Don't mind if we do." Zan smirks at Maria glancing at her body and nodding approvingly.

Maria rolls her eyes at them, but doesn't say anything; she's waiting for Liz to start. She's not in the mood right now to deal with rude aliens or aliens that don't know the meaning of looking at someone subtlety.

"So, talk." Liz says in a hard voice that she doesn't recognize completely as her own.

"What do ya wanna know first?" Zan asks. There's a lot to tell so it might go easy if the appointed leader of the humans asked some questions.

"How about how you're still alive. Last I heard—you were made a hood ornament on a truck. Care to explain how you survived something like that?" Liz crosses her arms in front of her chest effectively causing Rath to look up at her face where he sees her glaring at him.

All right, all right so he admits he was staring at her tits, but hey can you blame him. Those breasts could fit right in his hand; he hardens at the thought, he likes the idea of her breasts filling his hand perfectly. With Lonnie, her tits over flowed and felt off in his hands. Not to say that he didn't like big breasts, hell yea he does but he loves smaller breasted woman, they fit right in your mouth and hands.

Liz feels her nipples tighten and become painful against her uniform at seeing Rath's jeans tent. She shouldn't be feeling this way but she can't help it. Having always been attracted to Michael she understands why she's attracted to Rath. But now wasn't the time to get all hot and bothered over him—she'd save that for later when she was alone.

"I'm still alive because my death wasn't exactly mine." Zan glances at the group, wondering how that little piece of information is going to go.

"So basically what you're saying is that it was a mind warp and Ava mind warped some poor person to walk in front of the truck and that Ava is like Tess, who is a mind raping bitch?" Maria seethes out wanting to attack the little blonde for being anything like Tess. Although Zan said nothing about it being a mind warp Maria just jumped to conclusions like she does sometimes.

"Hey you gotta problem wit me?" Ava stands ready to defend herself if need be.

"Ava sit down." Zan glares at Ava until the small blonde submits and sits down.

"No, that's not what I was sayin. It was a shapeshifter dat died but there is a whole other part of this that you needs ta know first. I'll start at the beginning." Zan takes a deep breath and starts with what happened to them in New York.

"We were's walkin' down the street like we's normally do, rippin' off some of the local food stores. When all of a sudden we's get ambushed. We's didn't know at the time but they were shapeshifters that Kivar sent. Anyways, we's all got kidnapped—except for Ava who we found out later was knocked out but not tied up. And in our places were shapeshifters. Ya all wit me so far?" Zan pauses waiting for them to confirm that they with him. Everyone nods so he continues.

"Good, so while my second, my sister, and me were tryin' to get da hell out of where ever we were's, Ava had woken up thinking that shapeshifters was us. Do you wanna take it from heres?" He turns to Ava.

She nods and continues with her side of the story. "Alright, here's what happened ta me. When I woke up I thought it was the others. They were different but they looked the same, so I didn't think much of it. Until the next week when the Rath shapeshifter pushed the Zan shapeshifter out in the road and had him run over by a truck…"

"Wait, why would they kill a member of their own team? That doesn't make sense?" Liz stares at them suspiciously, how does she know that these four aren't the shapeshifters.

"Because they wanted me ta go along wit anything they said, and if I thought dat they could kill me I would go along wit whatever they wanted." Ava admits.

Liz still isn't sure. Rath stands up towering over her, and she's immediately put on guard. "What are you doing?"

"You don't trust us, so I'm going ta do something that will prove ta yous who wes are." Rath smirks, he's wanted to do this ever since he saw Liz again.

"What?" Rath stalks closer to her and snakes his arm around Liz's waist dragging her adjoining to his hard body.

"You remember when I first came ta Roswell ta check out what happened wit our shapeshifter selves while they weres in Roswell and I saw yous at da school and kissed you?" He whispers low so the others can barely hear.

Liz nods and licks her lips at the memory. "I got a little flash of what you saw when you kissed da shapeshifter Rath. It was cold and black, but with me it was hot and bright." Without giving her the chance to savor the memory he places a hard deep kiss on her perfectly glossed lips.

The minute Rath kisses her she knows that he's really Rath. When the shapeshifter dupes were here their Rath had kissed her and she saw the blackness that she saw when Nasedo kissed her. All men/species kiss differently; she doesn't know why they, just do, but for her in this case it's a good thing that they do. Not thinking about what she was doing she threads her fingers through Rath's hair feeling the surprisingly soft locks slip through her fingers.

She felt the molten lava of desire rage high inside her. She knows she needs to stop kissing him but she's not sure she wants too.

Too soon he pulls back, taking the heat with him, and breathing hard. "Convinced?" Smirking at her reaction.

"No, I think I need more convincing." Liz doesn't realize what's she's saying all she knows is that she wants his lips back on hers. "You know just to be sure." She nods, convincing herself that that's the only reason why she's trying to get him to kiss her again.

When Rath is about to lean down again and capture her lips with his own Zan clears his throat calling the attention back to him and what they were talking about. Pulling away quickly she looks at her friends who are trying to contain their laughter.

"What?" She glares at each of them daring them to say something.

"Nothing." Maria smiles and turns away bursting out in laughter.

While she didn't like being laughed at she was glad that her friends were smiling and laughing again. They need some more of that in their lives.

"Alright back ta business." Ava speaks seriously wanting to get all this out. "I was heartbroken thinkin' dat Zan was really dead. It was weird dat Lonnie was suddenly so cold and distant from what she had helped Rath to do."

Zan takes Ava's hand in his and squeezes letting her know that he's here for her. Nodding at Zan she continues. "So wes robbed a guy of his car and drove ta Roswell ta find all ya. You know what happened then—the shapeshifters took Max and Tess ta New York and tried to kill him when he wouldn't agree ta Nicholas's demands. They were especially mad when they found out dat Max knew where da Granolith was and didn't tell anybody."

She glances around at everyone making sure that they were all keeping up with what she was telling them. "When I left Roswell I was heading back ta New York—it had been my home all my life and I couldn't just leave it. That's when I ran into the shapeshifter again, no more than 2 hours after I got back ta New York. But they were—different; their skin color was yellow almost like theys were sick. I guess it was cuz if they had kept dat form for more than a month—dat's what happens, if they keep the same form for to long without changing, somethin' happens to them."

"How come they just didn't change back it whatever form they had before after their plan to kill Max had failed?" Maria questions, still not completely sure that this isn't a trap of some kind.

"I don't know." Ava answers honestly.

"What happened next?" Liz asks always wanting to know more information.

"That was when they tried ta kill my ass. They didn't need me anymore—fortunately for me my real family showed up and kicked their ass before they had da chance ta touch me." Ava smiles adoringly at her family happy that they protected her—after spending a few weeks with the shapeshifters as your family you start to question what you thought was right.

"Ok so while Ava was with the shapeshifters what about the rest of you? How did you escape—who had kept you there?" Kyle throws his questions at them.

"Whoa—one thing at a time please." Lonnie smiles, she's so much different than the other Lonnie we saw no more than 6 months ago.

This Lonnie was sweeter, nicer, and didn't have so much of that hard look that the shapeshifter Lonnie had. But everything else about her—the clothes, the hair, the tattoos and piercings those were still the same.

She picks up the story from there, "When we came too we was tied up and gagged. At first we's couldn't see nothin', after a while a kid come walkin' in like he owns the place. It's Nickolas. Tells us that after the shapeshifters did their job we's would no longer be needed, because he would kill us."

"At first he wanted ta fuck Lon, since according to him they's were lovers behind Kivar's back and the little twerp wanted dat again." The humans scrunch their faces up in disgust. "Lon spat in his face, and Nickolas started ta whine. So he went and stomped off, at dat point all we's had ta do was melt the chains and kick ol' Nicky's ass." Zan explained.

"Wait, when Nickolas was here he was powerful, how come it doesn't seem like such a big deal to you?" Kyle questions.

"Cuz, the Roswell aliens were more human therefor less powerful against pre-pubescent skins like Nickolas and his crew." Rath tells the human group.

Liz shuts her eyes, feeling a headache coming on, all this was too much to process especially after the week they all had. "Do you guys have a place to stay?"

"Na, wes just got here—but don't worry we can sleep on the streets somewhere." Rath shrugs it off like it's no big deal.

"On the streets? No, you four can stay here with me; my parent's are leaving for a convention in about 2 hours." Liz explains to them.

"Liz." Maria hisses at her friend and stalks over to her. "Are you nuts inviting possible killers to stay with you in your home?"

"I believe them Maria—this isn't up for debate. They need a place to stay, Mom and Dad are going to be gone, it's perfect. And you 3 don't have to be there if you don't want too." Liz tries to reassure her friends.

"Now I know you're nuts, if you think that I'm going to leave you alone with strange people." Maria sighs and looks over at the dupes. This is going to be a long night.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3 of 5

**Part 3**

_That Night_

Liz had a difficult time getting to sleep, and when she finally did get to sleep she had nightmares of Tess coming back and trying to kill them all while they were sleeping. During one of her more violent dreams Rath had been passing by her room when he heard her whimper.

He pushes the door open slowly so as not to disturb her. Liz is thrashing in her bed; the covers are flying every where. Without thinking Rath enters the dark room and moves to Liz's bed sinking down on it and bringing her into his arms. Her thrashing slowly ceased and she settled quietly into his arms.

Rath had only meant to stay in bed with her until she calmed down, but now that he was here and she was in his arms he found it hard to get up and leave her. He had never been in love before—only in lust with Lonnie, Lon was great, but he always felt like she wasn't the one for him. After he had kissed Liz that one time in the school hallway he began to dream about her and fantasize about her constantly. Doesn't mean that it's love, but he thinks that it could be close to love.

He had been fantasizing about Liz so much that Lonnie finally found out about his sex fantasies—well; it was actually his fault that Lonnie found out about his Liz fetish. One night while he was having sex with Lonnie he accidentally called out Liz's name. He still felt guilty about it…real guilty, but Lonnie was all right about it, she had told him that she saw flashes of the dreams that he had been having about Liz. She started to see them a few weeks ago. However it still took a lot of groveling to get back to the friendship they had before they had become lovers.

Rath had tried to explain but what could he say to her that wouldn't hurt her anymore than he already had? He apologized to her and told her that yes he had been having dreams, and if he could he would take back that moment but he couldn't.

Liz stirs in his arms trying to get comfortable. In and out of sleep she becomes aware of a hard surface under her cheek. Opening her eyes she sees that it was a chest she was laying on—not that she minded of course, but this wasn't Alex's chest or Kyle's.

Glancing up she spots Rath staring at her, she smiles awkwardly up at him and hesitantly moves away from his warm embrace.

"What are you doing in here?" Liz rolls her shoulder working to pop it to relieve some of the tension that gathered there.

Turning Liz around so her back is too his front Rath begins to massage her shoulder. "I was just passin' by your room and you were whimperin'. Thought I'd check it out, so I's laid down and held ya till yous calmed down."

Liz moans as Rath continues his ministrations. "Mmm, your good at that." She speaks softly. Rath digs his thumbs into her shoulder blades, eliciting a pop of sudden yet slight pain then a wave of relief as much of tension left Liz's body.

"Thanks, whenever I sleep wrong my shoulder needs that pop to feel better." Liz explains. Feeling a little daring Liz whispers low. "You know—I never did get that second kiss that I wanted."

Rath suddenly stops his massaging of her back, and Liz thinks that she said something wrong. That maybe he didn't want to kiss her. But if that was the case then how come the first time she wanted that second kiss he seemed happy to oblige?

To say that Liz shocked Rath with her remark was an understatement. He wanted to do more than just give Liz that second kiss, he wanted to have amazing sex with her, but also get to know her…not just physically but emotionally, mentally, in every way possible. He wanted forever with Liz; he wanted her to love him. Rath mentally shakes his head, he kisses her one time today and he's turning into a pussy.

"Liz, it's not that I don't want to kiss you, I do, I really do." Rath runs his fingers through his nightly spiked hair. "I just don't think I'd be able to stop after one kiss, and I don't want to scare you away."

Grinning, Liz turns in his arms slightly. "You could never scare me away." She whispers. "To tell you the truth—" Maria bolts into the room after finding Rath not in the living room with Zan.

"Liz, Rath is gone and—" she stops mid-sentence when she finds Rath in Liz's bed with Liz in between his legs staring at the door where she just entered. "Oh, never mind—you know. Umm, I'm just going to go."

Maria leaves the room thoroughly embarrassed that she barged in on Liz and Rath in a moment that was obviously private. It's really weird for her seeing Liz with the man that looks like Michael, but she also knows that it's not Michael and that she has no hold on Rath.

As she rushes down the hallway back to Liz's parents bedroom where she's sleeping for the night she almost runs into Zan. "What are you doing out here this late at night?"

"I's could ask da same ding bout yous." Zan smirks down at her and watches her with his dark soulful eyes, like he's trying to read her.

"I asked you first." Maria uses the childish excuse that she used with Liz whenever she wanted to know about something that happened to Liz.

"Well, I'm not tellin' you jack till yous tell me what I wanna know." He wets his lower lip with his tongue causing Maria to have a little tingle in her lower abdomen. She remembers the time she first saw Max in elementary school staring at Liz, she had to admit that she had been a little jealous even at that young age.

As she grew older that jealousy grew right along side. While she would never act on her feelings with Max, partly for Liz's friendship, and partly because she was too scared of rejection, she always felt that there was a small part in her heart that was reserved for Max Evans. Don't get her wrong she loved Michael, but she never quite loved him with her whole heart—and Michael deserved better than that and she hopes that he finds that person on Antar.

But while Liz and Max were dating she started to see more of his true colors. One moment he was professing his undying love to Liz, the next he was sleeping with Gerbil Girl and getting her pregnant. That's not something she wanted in a boyfriend, it was no surprise to her that not long after he betrayed Liz her crush on him faded fast.

"So are yous goin' ta tell me or what?" Zan questions letting his head fall slightly to the side a curious expression gracing his face.

"I was getting a drink of water, when I only saw you in the living room I got a little worried about Liz so I checked on her. Rath was in there with her. So now that I've answered your question are you going to give me the courtesy of answering mine?" Maria tells Zan, as she watches him waiting for an answer, she can't help but be attracted to this man.

Zan looks so much like Max, but from only spending a couple hours with him she can tell that their personalities aren't quite the same. Max was shy, where Zan was confident. Max was whiny, Zan took action. Max seemed to give orders more, and while Zan still gave orders he also sought the input of his family.

"Does dat make yous jealous? Dat yours fuck buddy's dupe is sweet on your friend?" Zan avoids Maria's question of why he was up at this hour.

"Ok you just completely glazed over my question to you, so I'm not going to answer until you give me an answer." Maria decides that she's not giving into him this time.

"Alright, alright. I woke up when Rath got up, and I watched him walk ta Liz's room. I's checked on dem when he went in there, he wasn't doin' nothin' besides laying down with her. Den I checked on Ava and Lon in the guestroom. Now—are yous jealous dat yours boy toy's double is hittin' on your friend?"

"No, I'm not jealous—not completely. As much I hate to admit it, Michael and I were practically over before he left. Even if Michael hadn't had left with his family—I'm almost 100 positive that we wouldn't have lasted more than a few months." Maria walks over to the couch that Rath had been sleeping on and breathes in a deep breath.

Zan takes a seat next to her and awkwardly wraps an arm around her waist and brings her a little closer to him. "But wait, I heard yous talkin' ta Liz earlier tonight bout how you and he had knocked boots. Why would ya think it was over?" He was curious he admits it, Maria didn't seem like the girl to have sex one moment and then the next say that the relationship was failing.

"When Michael and I made love, it wasn't because it was the right time. It was because that would have been his last night on Earth. I realized that after I left his apartment that even though he was leaving the planet I still shouldn't have slept with him. If we had been in a sexual relationship before it wouldn't have been a big deal, but that was my first time—our first time together and it was also our last." Maria's voice cracks a little, then she blushes furiously noticing for the first time that she just told Zan something that she hadn't even told Liz.

Almost as if Zan can read her mind he leans in close to her, whispering in her ear. "Your secret safe with me love." He gets up off the couch and moves into the kitchen, he's hungry and he wants to know what kind of food they got in this place.

Finding the ingredients to make a sandwich he spends five minutes trying to make one. When he comes back out, sandwich in hand, he finds that Maria has fallen asleep on the couch and snoring softly. He chuckles low in his throat and takes the blanket that he had been laying under and drapes it over her body.

"Sweet dreams beautiful." Zan smiles wide, she really is beautiful.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4 of 5

**Part 4**

_Next Morning_

A knock at the front door disrupts a silent apartment and reaches the ears of the King in the living room. He shifts from his semi-comfortable position on the couch and glares irritatingly at the door, Zan hopes that whose ever on the other side goes away and lets him get a few more hours of sleep. When he was livin' in the sewers he slept till 10 a.m.; it couldn't be more than 8 in the morning.

Just as he was about to close his eyes again the knock comes again, this time louder and more insistent. "Fuck!" Zan mutters under his breath. He rises off the couch, his bare feet making contact with the freezing cold floor that brings back memories of his mornings in the sewers. Rubbing the crud out of his eyes he takes in Maria's sleeping figure, the knocking didn't even cause her to stir.

Zan stands grumbling to himself. "Why do I have ta get da god dammed door? I'm a guest shouldn't Liz be gettin' da fuckin' door?" He opens the door to Kyle and Alex one holding a box of doughnuts the other holding two cup holders with 4 coffees resting in each.

"Where are the others?" Kyle questions not quite trusting Zan yet. He practically pushes his way in with Alex following behind him.

"They're sleeping—what else would they be doing at…" Zan takes a quick look toward the VCR clock, "…7:36 in da damn mornin'?" He shuts the door and shuffles back over to the couch that was his bed for the night. Only then did Maria wake up and stretch out her arms and legs waking her muscles up as well.

"Hey guys, what time is it?" Maria scratches her head and yawns as Kyle puts a cup of coffee in her hand. She raises it in thanks and takes tentative sips, needing the caffeine but also needing to cool it before swallowing it in huge gulps.

Alex sets the doughnuts down on the dining room table and sets out for Liz's room to tell her about breakfast. He comes up on a sight that he didn't expect to see at least not this soon, laying under the covers is a topless Liz and Rath, and Liz's bare leg draped seductively over Rath's covered legs.

Deciding that now would not be a good time to walk them up for breakfast he slowly creeps out of the room and walks to where he knows Ava and Lonnie would be sleeping. He opens the door to find the girls just waking up and shrugging into the robes that Liz set out for them the night before.

"Umm, ladies we have breakfast." He smiles slightly at Lonnie but he quickly loses it when he takes a fleeting glance at Ava. Alex can't help losing his grin—he knows that Ava isn't Tess but it's hard for him to see the girl who looks like the girl who manipulated his mind for months. Alex exits the room as quickly as he entered taking a seat at the dining room table where Zan, Kyle, and Maria were conversing like old friends.

Minutes later Lonnie and Ava come out dressed and make a mad dash for the open doughnut box. Ava grins like a happy child who just got the present she's wanted for Christmas. Lonnie occupies the seat next to Alex casting him flirty looks and licking her fingers of the sticky doughnut sweetness.

"Hey where are Liz and Rath. I thought you were getting them?" Maria polishes off her breakfast while she waits for Alex to answer.

"Well, I did go in there but I don't think they would have appreciated me waking them up." Alex explains embarrassingly as his cheeks pinken with awkwardness.

"Wait—are yous sayin' what I's think you's sayin? Did they bump uglies?" Lonnie questions surprisingly giddy by the news.

"I don't know—that's just what it looked like when I saw them?"

"Who looked like what when you saw them?" Liz bounds out of her room with Rath hot on her heels admiring her ass as she walks in front of him.

They had woken up only seconds after Alex had left the room. Rath and Liz hadn't had sex last night but they came damn close. Surprisingly enough it was Rath who stopped them from going all the way. For two reasons, the first he didn't have any condoms and two he wanted to do something new and that was learn about the person before he fucked them. He did get her off though to take the edge off for her. The reminder of Liz's taste was enough to give him wood, luckily his shirt was large enough to cover his erection.

"Oh, I saw you and Rath together in bed, didn't really think you'd make it there the first night." Alex blushes nervously at telling his friend that he saw them.

Liz reddens furiously and grabs a coffee taking a swig of it trying desperately to cover her embarrassment. Rath seeing her nervousness comes to her rescue…sort of.

"Yea, so wes slept together—what business is it of yours skinny?" Rath roughly asks leaning toward him menacingly. As far as he was concerned its nobodies business what he and Liz did in private and he wasn't afraid to tell people that.

"Wait, Liz you really slept with Rath?" Maria rises from her spot at the table and runs a hand through her hair, then turns to Rath to hit him with an open hand on the chest. "Did you take advantage of her? Bastard, you did didn't you, how dare you do that to her." Maria hits him again on the chest this time with a fist.

"Maria, Maria. Stop." Liz puts herself in between her friend and almost lover. "He didn't take advantage of me honey. We didn't sleep together, sleep together. We just slept in the same bed." And a little more than that but she doubts that Maria wants to know. She places her hands on Maria's shoulder's making her listen to her.

"Oh…" Maria looks to Rath and murmurs an apology for hitting him.

"Just don't do it again blondie. My dupe may have put up wid shit like dat but I won't. And I'm only givin' yous one warning." He speaks to her in a menacing tone that oozes anger if he's to be crossed.

There's a moment of silence until Liz breaks it with a question. "Ok who wants to take a shower." Four hands shoot up without hesitation.

"Alright we have two showers so you four argue who gets to go first." Liz throws her hands up in the air and the arguing begins for who gets first dibs. Lonnie and Ava's argument is that they're the girls and need a shower more than guys. Zan and Rath's argument is that they've gone twice as long without a shower than the girls have.

While their deciding who gets to shower first Liz and Maria take that time to get dressed. When they exit the room the four are still fighting about the damn shower.

"Ok since it's my home I'll decide cuz it's apparent that none of you can. Lonnie, Ava you two go first. Rath and Zan can wait 15 minutes." Zan and Rath immediately disagree while Ava and Lonnie are almost skipping to the showers in delight.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5 of 5

A.N. This is the last part. I want to thank everyone one who read and reviewed, I'm addicted to the feedback.

Part 5

While Ava and Lonnie were showering Liz and Maria went down to the Crash to talk…something that they both felt they needed. They needed to re-connect as friends. For the past year Maria and Liz have drifted apart. Partly because of the alien life that they had become ingrained in and also because neither really made an effort to keep the friendship going.

"So, uh, I noticed you and Zan this morning were kind of throwing each other flirty looks…is there somethin' going on there?" Liz makes a soothing cup of tea for her and Maria, this was Maria's suggestion. With all the worries, betrayals, and issues that have been a constant in their lives, both of them could use some comforting…even if it did come from a tea.

"Yea, I really like him, when he first walked in I practically wanted to jump him." She blurts out without thinking. Although this was supposed to be a talk where they get everything out she didn't know how Liz would take that little bit of information after all Zan is Max's dupe. But then again Liz was getting hot and heavy with Rath sooner than Maria would have ever expected, and Rath is Michael's dupe so Liz shouldn't really mind her moving on with Zan.

Surprising Maria a little Liz let out a laugh from the deep bowels of her abdomen at Maria's bluntness. "I can understand that." Liz hands Maria her tea, and slides into the stool next to her. "He definitely is yummy." She smiles and stares down into her tea.

"You can say that again. Those chiseled biceps, his washboard stomach, his deep dark eyes that you can get lost in…" Maria trails off sipping at her tea calming her nerves.

"So how long have you had a thing for Max?" Liz says out of the blue. That was not a question that she expected.

"What are you talking about?" She tries to avoid answering her friend's inquiry.

"Come on Ria, don't lie to me. For one thing you and I have been best friends for about a decade, I can tell when you like someone…it might have taken a while to figure it out but I did eventually. Also Zan and Max have the same face and body. It's not really a quantum leap to have had or still have a thing for Max if you have a thing for Zan." Liz calmly tells her not showing much emotion, making Maria a little nervous about her friend.

"I've been attracted to him since about 2nd grade. Even that young I thought he was so…" she hesitates slightly at what she thought Max was when she first saw him. "…he was just beautiful. It was almost like he glowed with an essence that I had never seen before. When did you realize I had a thing for him?"

"About 4 months after the shooting. I don't know why I didn't notice it before…I guess you were really good at hiding it, or I just wasn't paying enough attention. But for some reason I looked at you and saw this dreamy gleam enter your eyes and it was when Max walked into the Crashdown. Now how come _you_ never told me. I never would have gone out with him if I knew you felt something toward him." Liz rests her hand over Maria's in a comforting gesture.

"But I could tell that Max had a thing for you. He had that whole staring at you like there was no one else on the planet that I just didn't want to compete with. So I swallowed my crush and just wanted him from afar." She explains, while yes she wanted Max, she valued Liz's friendship more than any guy.

"If you told me how you felt I would have told Max that he didn't have a chance with me then maybe you would have." Liz tries to tell her.

"The thing is though after he betrayed you with Tess my desire for him faded and ceased to exist. I mean yea his body was still as great as it had been but the sweetness that kept me attracted to him was gone. Suddenly he was a jerk and didn't deserve my attentions." She scratches an itch along her hairline that has become an irritant.

"I've…well, I've been thinking that maybe my attraction to Max was me just seeing Zan as Max. I know I'm getting ahead of myself but the feelings that I had for Max in the beginning is how I'm beginning to feel about Zan." Maria talks aloud to herself.

"It's definitely possible, but you didn't know Zan when you met Max." Liz notices a guilty look crossing Maria's face. "What?"

"That's not exactly true." She fiddles with her hands. "I did see Zan a few years after I first saw Max. It was during a trip that Mom took me on to New York. I saw him in the CD store. I doubt he remembers me from then I was only 11 and Ms. Two-beans-on-a-board for a chest—well I'm still kinda like that, but I was looking at the CD's and I watched him as he stole one he winked at me and ran out. Ever since then I guess I looked to Max like Zan. I was so attracted him." She runs her finger in a pattern on a counter.

"How come you never told me that? Or told Max that? You were talking to him occasionally around that time, he could have been a twin brother that he didn't know about…which it turns out he sort of was." Liz isn't trying to sound judgmental but she almost can't help it. But then again Liz has no clue what she would have done if she were in Maria's position.

"I wasn't thinking about that at the time." Maria sighs out. Sometimes Liz acted so smart like she knows everything it got rather irritating. "How come you never told me about your attraction toward Rath…which means that you also had to have at least a physical attraction to Michael." For once she wants to get the spotlight off her and on to someone else…namely Liz.

Liz mentally debates with how much to tell her, in the end she decides not to hold anything back. After all that's the whole point of this talk with Maria now, let everything come out. "It was after Michael returned my journal. He read all my deepest, darkest secrets, my most erotic to the most innocent of fantasies, my dreams, my emotions, everything I had ever felt and thought about was in that journal and he knew it all. After that, the small attraction I felt for him magnified till it practically dwarfed my attraction to Max."

"Michael was the one that stole your journal?" She shrieks at the discovery.

"Yea, he told me not to tell anybody so I didn't till now. He knew Max would be furious and he didn't want to deal with that." Liz explains hoping that she won't overreact about it. "I'm actually lucky Michael never stole my journal after that. He would have found a few fantasies that involved him."

"He is fantasy worthy isn't he?" Maria teases understanding full well why Liz was dreamin' about him. "Ok you know what we need? I know it's like 8 a.m. but we cannot have this conversation without chocolate ice cream." She smiles leaping off the stool heading straight for the restaurant freezer.

Grinning like a child Liz rushes behind the counter picking up two long spoons that the Crash uses for their root beer floats. She turns hearing the sound of the door swing open to find Rath strutting through them looking vastly different than she was used to seeing him.

His hair was wet and sticking to his face, noticing her stare he raises his hand, it glows briefly and his hair is dry and straight up in it's usual Mohawk style. Rath's t-shirt clings to his strong torso leaving nothing to the imagination. "When ya wasn't upstairs I got curious as ta where my bed mate ran off too."

She grins wickedly. "So now that you found me what do you plan to do?" Liz sways from side to side in slight nervousness yet also portraying her seductiveness.

"Well, I plan ta do what any green blooded Antarian male would do." He smirks and raises his hand, again it glows brightly and some unseen force pulls Liz toward Rath till she's securely in his strong embrace. He smirks down at her leaning in, "Take full advantage of it."

The End

A.N. I know a weird place to end, but I couldn't see writing any more for this. I saw it as this is where one chapter of their lives begins and evolves and I don't need to tell the whole story in this fic. I can tell bits and pieces of it in the sequel.


End file.
